After gestating for a few years, the ball has finally started rolling on Josh Boone’s ‘New Mutants’ and the team is starting to take shape. ‘Game of Thrones’ star Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy of ‘The Witch’ and ‘Split’ were the first two cast members to join the project as Wolfsbane and Magik. Rosario Dawson was then cast as team mentor Dr. Cecilia Reyes. And though there have been some rumors circulating about a few other characters, we now have official word on the casting of a particularly explosive member of the young mutant team.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, English actor Charlie Heaton is currently in talks to star alongside Williams, Taylor-Joy, and Dawson in the upcoming X-Men spinoff from 20th Century Fox. Best known for playing Jonathan Byers in the Netflix smash hit ‘Stranger Things’, Heaton is currently in line to play Sam Guthrie AKA Cannonball, a mutant with the ability to fly at jet speeds while encased in an impenetrable force field.

In the comics, Sam’s powers manifested during his youth in Cumberland, Kentucky while he was trying to save a fellow coal mine worker from a collapsing mine shaft. After working for the Hellfire Club as a mercenary in a plot to kill the New Mutants, Professor X recruits Cannonball to the team after Sam refuses to kill them. Sam would also go on to act as a co-team leader for the New Mutants before moving on to the ranks of the X-Men, X-Force, and the Avengers.

The live-action version of the New Mutants is really starting to come together. With shooting set to begin later this summer in Boston ahead of it’s April 13, 2018 release date, it’s only a matter of time before True Believers discover who will play Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, and Warlock. But until then, let us know what you think about Charlie Heaton as Cannonball in the comments below.

Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Ben Silverio

Ben F. Silverio received a degree from Drexel University in the Screenwriting and Playwriting Program with a minor in Television Production. While at Drexel, Ben co-founded and co-hosted a film review show called The Pretentious Film Majors, which has evolved into a multi-format form of entertainment including blogs, podcasts on iTunes, articles in the school paper, and a potential tv show. Now armed with an extremely expensive piece of paper, Ben can begin climbing the treacherous ladder of the entertainment industry, which he hopes to do while streaming WWE wrestling matches, reading Marvel comics, and blogging about the excessive amount of movies and tv shows that he watches, all on the iPhone that is permanently attached to his hand.